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April 14, 2003
April 14, 2003
Hana: 10.5 months
(Mike: 27 years, Jessica: 26 years)
Last week Mike was out of town Monday through Wednesday on a business trip. On Monday afternoon I found myself with a car (unusual in our one-car household) and nothing to do—no dinner to cook, laundry all done, clean house! I have been looking for a spring coat for Hana everywhere and still hadn’t come across anything I liked. Well, I decided to heed Jeanette’s advice and hit the local thrift store. Hana & I packed up and headed to Value Village, just about a mile from our house. And guess what? I hit paydirt!! Not only did Hana come home with a new wardrobe (mostly 2T-3T), but I am also now sporting 2 new J.Crew sweaters, another pair of Gap khakis (ok, so I already have 3 pairs, but I couldn’t resist the $1.99 price tag), and a khaki skirt from The Limited. Most importantly, I found a like-new REI fleece jacket for Hana (size 18mos) for $0.99, and it is exactly what I was looking for! In addition to the jacket, Hana came home with Gap overalls, Gap jeans, 2 Nordstrom-brand dresses & a Nordstrom-brand shirt (the name of the Nordy’s children brand is escaping me right now), and a Kids Club summer dress.
!!NOTE!! I’m not usually a name-dropper (!!) but I’m quite impressed that I was able to find very good quality, very gently worn children’s clothing for a fraction of the price! The fact that I can find, for example, a pair of Gap jeans that retail for approx $30 for $2 is just amazing to me! And honestly, everything I bought was in great shape (as children’s clothing often is, since they grow so fast). Of course it does take a discerning eye to find the good stuff, but its there if you have the patience to find it.
So hooked was I that on Thursday afternoon I again loaded us up and headed to Deseret Industries, another local thrift. And yet again, I struck gold. This time Hana got 2 Hanna Andersen tees, 2 pairs of denim Gap shorts and a dark denim Gap skirt, and an adorable Italian-label dress of the cutest vintage floral cotton (reds & yellows). Mom came home with yet another J.Crew sweater, a blue zip-up hooded sweatshirt, two pairs of Gap shorts (incredible, b/c I have been meaning to actually go to the Gap and buy exactly what I found at the thrift for $2.99 each!) and a Classiques Entier stretch tee. Whew!
This is a slippery slope though. When everything is under $4.99, its difficult to limit your purchases to what you need. With a husband whose personal money motto is “is this a WANT or a NEED?” I must be careful. ;) All the same, it is incredibly fun and fabulously satisfying to find such great deals on quality clothing. It is a fun challenge if I’m in the right frame of mind, and I do think I’m hooked on thrift shopping!
This weekend we washed all of the windows in our house, inside and out. Who knew that window-washing could be such a thrill. I feel like a new woman with all of these sparkling clean windows! Throw open the blinds and let the sun shine in! We’ve been living with our Levelors slanted just-so, to hide the rain-washed (read: dirty) glass while still allowing the light in. Now I can proudly pull those Levelors up and revel in my gleaming windows. Mike took the outside and I took the inside, and Hana provided the entertainment. She had a great time laughing at her daddy through the window and messing up her mom’s hard work with more little handprints.
There are moments in life when it really, really hits you that you’re getting older. Writing the entry a few weeks ago about a minivan was one of them. Writing about being thrilled by window washing is proving to be yet another. There was a time when I gleaned excitement from, say, crazy drunken nights on the town. Now I’m getting all amped over window washing and other such thrills. Yikes.
As for the chickens and the chicken coop. Well, the chicken coop is built. It is a nice, cedar-shingled number with a door and a hatching shelf and even a skylight! We were going to go to the Feed Store yesterday to pick up our little baby chicks, but we got lazy and never made it out the door. I think I’ll have more news to report after next weekend, as Mike has ants in his pants about these chickens. I must admit, I’m a little excited for baby chicks. But then they grow up. And I’ll have chickens in my backyard. Sigh.
On Saturday we went to Mike’s office with him while he worked. Hana had a wonderful time unrolling the toilet paper all over the bathroom and then tracking it through the office via the soles of her shoes (where it stuck). Later we walked through the neighborhood, and actually let Hana WALK (not stroll in her stroller). She loved it, and reveled in the gaggles of admirers we found on the street. I’m still amazed at how quickly this transition from baby to toddler has happened. That she can now walk for upwards of two blocks on her own, with no stopping, simply blows me away.
We also admired the breathtaking views over Shilshole Bay and daydreamed about owning a house with such a fabulous view. Mike would really like to live in Ballard where his office is. He envisions himself as a jaunty businessman, walking to his cute little office on “main street” each morning (leaving the chickens in their coop at home, of course…gotta have the chickens in his daydream).
I wouldn’t mind living in Ballard per se. I, however, insist that we live in a “private” community when the time comes to buy our “real” house. Now, a few clarifications: By “real” house I mean that we both consider our home right now to be our starter home. We’ll probably live in it for 3-4 more years, in which time we’ll hopefully have gained quite a bit of equity (we got a screamin’ deal, plus we’re in a desirable neighborhood in north Seattle) and can buy our “real” house in which we’ll raise our kids and grow old…
Second clarification, if you haven’t already stopped reading and declared me an utter snob for insisting that I live in a private community: By private I do not mean a snooty, gated McMansion neighborhood or any such thing (in fact, I would insist that we AVOID such neighborhoods). How can I best explain this without alienating everyone reading?
I grew up in a neighborhood just north of Seattle called Sheridan Beach. Sheridan Beach was and is a tight-knit, quiet, tree-lined neighborhood with sidewalks and teeming with kids & families. The community is on the shore of the north end of Lake Washington and reaches up into the hills above the lake (providing for some pretty fantastic views). The best part of Sheridan Beach is that home ownership guarantees you membership to the Sheridan Beach Pool & Community Club. Now this is no country club, mind you. It’s a nice hokey little lakefront beach club with a 4-lane pool, a kiddie pool, some playground toys, a pickleball & basketball court, a big grassy lawn, a little beach, and a dock with a big slide and a diving board. There is a cabana for BBQs and informal parties, and a gatehouse and locker rooms that certainly leave something to be desired (summer lake kitsch, you might say). Other than these amenities and a little candy & popsicle shop, well, there you have it. I promise you, it is NOT a fancy getup. It was, however, pure heaven as a kid. I honestly could not have asked for a better childhood, and the best memories come from summers spent lazing and playing around Sheridan Beach. The teenage lifeguards were our idols, the lake was our playground, and swim team (practices & meets) kept us out of trouble. We lived in bathing suits and flip-flops, ran home only for some pancakes after swim practice and to pack picnic lunches, and came home tired and tanned at dusk. We played big neighborhood games of Hide & Seek and Kick the Can, performed dance routines & practiced skateboard tricks in the middle of the street, sold lemonade and friendship bracelets on the corner, and waded through the creek in doubled up socks. We had swim meets every Tuesday & Thursday nights, and we celebrated our victories afterwards at the local pizza parlor. It was simply a wonderful way to grow up and I just can’t help but want the same thing for my own children. If I could recreate my own childhood and give it to Hana, I would.
And so…and so, I want Hana (and our future children) to grow up in such a magical, fun, community-oriented place. I want her to have a safe summertime hangout. I want her to grow up in the sun (with LOTS OF SUNSCREEN), in the pool, with a love of Lake Washington. With sticky popsicle fingers and brassy chlorine-bleached hair. With friends who live a stone’s throw away and whose parents look out for each other and for each others’ kids.
So my vote is to live in Sheridan Beach, and Mike likes this idea and understands my longing, but it does come with a price tag. We talk about it, he agrees with me (Sheridan Beach it is!), then he wavers, and then I can see the little scenario pop back into his head—him walking to the office on a sunny morn, swinging his briefcase happily (or some version of this)…Mike says “how about Ballard?,” and I admit that I really like that part of town. There are beautiful views (although, in my defense, those views come with a higher price tag than the Lake WA views in Sheridan Beach!), great shops & restaurants, many tree-lined neighborhoods with sidewalks and lots of kids. I find myself seriously considering this: “I could live in Ballard. Yeah, I could live in Ballard.” Then it comes back-- this pull back to Sheridan Beach. This sounds so odd, but I hate thinking that my kids will grow up without a connection to Lake Washington. I can’t fathom it, and it makes me sad to try to imagine it.
So, there’s a whole load of nothing. Just been thinking about it since we admired those views over Shilshole Bay on Saturday and I had that internal tug of war again (Ballard v. Sheridan Beach-oh, the drama!). I sure hope I win. ;)
I’m still plugging away on the quitting-my-job-starting-a-daycare scenario, and making progress. Stay tuned and I’ll update you next time. I feel a bit like I’ll jinx it if I post about it before things are solidified!
Best be going,
Jessica
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